Episode 486 Jon Safran Why Veterans Struggle With Civilian Careers Transcript
This transcript is from episode 486 with guest Jon Safran.
Scott DeLuzio: [00:00:00] What if I told you today’s guest served on Air Force One under four different presidents, Bush, Obama, Trump, and Biden, you won’t hear that. In today’s conversation though, because Jon Safran, our guest is so humble. He didn’t even bring it up himself. So I’m doing it for him right now, but beyond that impressive credential on Jon’s resume, he has dedicated his post military career to solving one of the biggest struggles that veterans face, which is finding meaningful employment after service.
And if you’ve ever felt lost in the military. Trying to translate your military experience into civilian career, or you’ve been frustrated by job searches that just don’t seem to lead anywhere. You’re not alone. The transition from military to civilian life isn’t just about finding a job, it’s about finding the right job, where you’re valued, you’re understood.
And Jon is the Chief Military Engagement Advisor at MilitaryConnected. org, an organization that helps veterans connect with [00:01:00] military ready companies, not just ones that wave an American flag, do all the, the, the signs and, and everything that show that they’re pro military and want to hire veterans but They’re, they’re the ones that actually understand and value veteran skills.
And today we’re going to break down why so many veterans struggle in their first civilian job, the biggest mistakes that service members make during transition and how to land a career where you can truly thrive. And before we jump in, if you want more veteran success stories and strategies straight to your inbox, join our mailing list at driveonpodcast.
com slash subscribe. And you’ll get my five favorite episodes packed with real world advice so you can take action on your own journey right away. And with that, let’s dive into this conversation with Jon Safran. [00:02:00]
So Jon welcome to the show. Really glad to have you here. I’ve been looking forward to this conversation for a little while, since we, we first got connected looking forward to it. So welcome to the show.
Jon Safran: Scott, man. Appreciate it. Really. Again, this is a great honor. Thank you for having me. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk about this this, this topic that affects a lot of our military members, a lot of our
service members especially in their transitioning phase. I think we got some good data to share and hopefully maybe provide some solutions for these individuals.
So, yeah, again, thank you very much.
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, absolutely. And I think that you hit the nail on the head. What I want to do here is.
Not just talk about the issues, right? You know, we all are aware of issues that, that come up, right? But
we can talk about that till we’re blue in the face. But
if we don’t have solutions to go along with those issues that people are having, then what even is the point of having this conversation, you know?
So, so that’s what I’m really looking forward to looking forward to getting into [00:03:00] some of this. Some of the data you were talking about and some of the potential solutions that might be out there. And we’ll get into all that, I’m sure, but you’re, so tell us a little bit first about militaryconnected.
org. That’s, that’s the, the website
and your, your role as the chief military engagement advisor. Tell us about that and, and what the whole website’s all about, what the organization’s all about
and and what you guys do.
Jon Safran: Absolutely. Yeah. So again, my name is Jon Safran. Again, pleasure to be here as a, the, the chief military engagement advisor. My job basically with military connected. org is to create connections build bridges and network with veterans and, and, and, and military members in their transitioning phase, getting out of the military, leaving that military mindset and injecting themselves back into civilian lifestyle.
It can be a challenge going from, from that military mindset and, and moving into a more, into the civilian [00:04:00] sector. It can be challenging for a lot of us. I was active duty for 23 years and I was always part of a really good team a team of go getters, a team of,
of, of people who knew exactly what they were doing and they were all facing the same direction, right? And, and going into that civilian mindset and that civilian job market, it’s different. It’s different.
And I didn’t realize how different it was. And now that I’m kind of on the other side looking backwards it, it, it’s always beneficial to help those other veterans who are going through that same process.
Right.
So it’s not just me. It’s not just you. It’s, it’s a lot of our military veterans going through that, that, that
journey. Right. So
it’s, it’s, it’s a struggle. And, and one of our goals is really to, to help. That journey and help that struggle be a little less stressful. So we’re going to get into that a little bit more.
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, for sure.
And one of the things that you mentioned how,
you know, you were part of a team, you’re part of a, you know, go, go getters. There’s, there’s just these people, [00:05:00] you’re all facing in the same direction. You’re all going towards the same goal and objective. And. You would think that if you go out into the civilian world, you’re working for a company, that company has a goal, they have a mission statement, they have objectives, they have customers that they’re trying to win over, they’re trying to launch new products, they’re trying to do all these different things.
You would think that everybody wants to be moving in that same direction,
Jon Safran: You think that
Scott DeLuzio: you would think, right? But
when you, when you face the reality of the situation is that company is made up of a bunch of different individuals with all their own individual goals. And yeah, sure. They, they want to help move that company forward, but they also want to get that promotion and they, they may also see a potential job opportunity in another company.
So their actions and their things that they’re doing, they may be doing those things to help advance themselves in their own career, which may or may not involve that company that you guys are working for. It’s, [00:06:00] to your point, it’s a different mindset. You’re going into it with a military mindset where this is our mission.
This is a, this is the goals. This is my position position in this company. I know what I’m supposed to do to help the overall group move forward. And. That’s your mindset and that’s great. It’s a great mindset to have, but it doesn’t necessarily necessarily jive with the rest of
Jon Safran: It
doesn’t always translate. You’re Right.
You’re Right.
A lot of people are going to be kind of out for their own agenda and figuring out, Hey, how does this, how does this help me? How does this help? Number one? You know what I
mean?
Where? Again, in the military, you’re
thinking like, Hey, we’re all doing this for the same reason.
We’re all here for the same job, for the same
mission. Boy, in corporate America, it is not like that.
Scott DeLuzio: No, no, exactly. Yeah. Yeah, it’s, it’s. Very eyeopening when you, when you get into that world and it’s just a different experience. And
I, I did a, an informal survey in a Facebook group with [00:07:00] a bunch of veterans. This was a couple of years ago. And all I did was just ask for the veterans in this group.
What was your biggest issue in transitioning out of the military and getting into the civilian world?
And by far, I took
Jon Safran: I bet you got the raw truth. Didn’t you? You got
Scott DeLuzio: Oh my gosh, did I, I mean, it was a group full of veterans and there was no holding back. I mean, it was, it was all, all the cards were on the table that we, we, yeah, we got down to some good answers. And I got, I think I got over a hundred responses in this, this this thing.
And. It was all just in comments that people posted. It wasn’t like a poll where they click a predefined option and just, you know, move on from there. They took the time to type it out. And so, I have a good feeling that what they were saying was actually the truth. That what they actually were dealing with.
And the vast majority of the issues were dealing with civilians. That’s, that’s the biggest thing that they were saying, and [00:08:00] it ranged anywhere from their job to, you know, they’re going into work, working with people who are just out for, like you were saying, out for number one, not out for the group, the company, trying to make sure that, that, that ball is moving down the field in the right way.
And I’m using that, that, that that analogy there, except seeing all the Eagle stuff in the background. They’re having a feeling, I have a feeling that that one will land. But
you know, but, and, and it could even be down to, you know, hearing a civilian complaining about their coffee order at Starbucks.
No, not getting the right.
Jon Safran: hmm, mm hmm.
Scott DeLuzio: or whatever in their their order and it’s like who who cares man, you know, like that
Jon Safran: how’s this? How’s this helping the mission? How’s this helping everybody else? You know
Scott DeLuzio: Right. Yeah. Yeah,
Jon Safran: totally get it, man.
Scott DeLuzio: and so that was that was the biggest thing So but but you were talking about the the challenges that veterans face when transitioning back to civilian life
What, what in your experience are, are [00:09:00] some of those issues and maybe, maybe I already touched on some of those, but what, in, in your experience in militaryconnected.
org, what, what do you guys see as some of those issues and how are you guys helping to address some of these issues? We were talking about solutions in the beginning. I kind of want to jump into some of those too.
Jon Safran: Right, right. So I’ll say that my own personal experience when I was getting out you know, and everyone has to do this. You go through taps, right? The transition
assistance program, congressionally mandated program. You got to go through and some of it is useful. A lot of it though is, is, is checking a block,
you know, and, and at the end of the day, you know, Hey, sure, sure.
I can write a resume. Sure. I can, you know, know how to use LinkedIn. And, and, and, you know, call up and then try to ask for a job interview or whatever, but it doesn’t re the military is really, really great. at recruiting people, at bringing people into the service, at bringing you know, young people in who want to serve their country and, and, and all, and all that. [00:10:00] But when it’s time for those individuals to leave, the military is very, very poor at setting us up to be successful, right? One of the things that MilitaryConnected. org tries to do is to take those transitioning veterans, those retirees, those guys coming out of the service and, and taking that resume, taking that information, taking your skills, your hard skills, your soft skills, and being able to translate it into, into a more civilian friendly language, right? One of the things that the, that the website is able to do is take your, your MOS code, your Air Force specialty code, or your, whatever your specialty code is, putting that into the system and translating what you already know into a civilian equivalent career opportunity and then pointing you in the right direction for those career opportunities.
So it’s,
the website is much more than a job board. It’s, it’s, it’s a tool to help you in that transition period. And in, in order to gate point you and engage you in the right [00:11:00] direction, right?
Scott DeLuzio: Right. Right. Yeah. And
for the, the people that I’ve talked to
who have gone through TAPS and have had issues with their transition.
A lot of times the, the common
theme or response that I get from people is that it was like drinking from a fire hose. You’re getting way too much information all at once.
And I don’t need all this stuff right now. Like I, I don’t, I don’t know what I’m going to do with all this information. And then it’s just like, like anything, if you don’t use it, you start to lose it as far as that, that knowledge retention goes. And. You know, it’s great that the military goes through all of this, to your point, they’re really good at bringing people in, recruiting people, transforming them into warriors and, and getting them to be able to do the job that they need to do in whatever branch, whatever MOS, whatever their, their job happens to be.
They get them to, they transform that raw material, [00:12:00] if you will, that person coming in, they bring that into what they need it to be. And then. Getting them back into civilian world. I don’t want to say it’s an afterthought. It kind of feels that way.
Jon Safran: I’ll say it. It’s an
afterthought.
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah. You know,
Jon Safran: say it. Yeah.
Scott DeLuzio: and, and it’s not to say they’re not doing anything about it.
They’re, you know, there’s stuff that’s being done, right? You’re, you’re talking about, you know, perhaps there, there is a program out there that, that does exist to help these, these service members transition in, in, in. And get into that, that civilian life, but it’s not great, you know, it has its flaws,
Jon Safran: You’re right?
And
and just to be clear, I’m
not, you know, trying to be up here bashing TAPS
Scott DeLuzio: sure.
Jon Safran: But there are more ways to help that veteran. There are other ways to help that retiree go through that transition
period.
TAPS is good. It’s, it’s needed. Is it effective for every single person? [00:13:00] Yes and no. Some ways yes, some ways better, some ways not but this is another tool to help you
during this transition process. Going to militaryconnected. org signing up and, and seeing what’s available, seeing what’s out there. And it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s helpful for that individual.
Scott DeLuzio: And you mentioned that it’s more than just a job board, right, because it is going to help translate that military service into civilian speak, civilian
lingo or whatever. And I think that that’s especially important because someone who has spent the majority of their adult life Their, their working career has been around military lingo.
As far as they know, that’s the world that is their, their adult world. And how, how do I translate what I did as an infantryman you know, into civilian world, you know? Yeah, sure. I, I know all the. The battle drills and I, [00:14:00] I did all these, these different you know, tactics and, you know, I can spit off all these different acronyms that mean nothing to a civilian employer, unless they happen to also be, you know, a service member none of that stuff makes any sense to
Jon Safran: You’re right. One
of the most shocking things that I, that, that, you know, you’re, you’re speaking to the choir right now. I’ll tell you one of the most
shocking things that I kind of came across, you know, as, as I’m starting that transitionary journey, getting out of the military, it’s like 90, 90 percent of civilians have no idea what the military does. They don’t know what your title means. They don’t know what rank is. They don’t, they have no concept. of what being in the military is, what, what people do in the different branches, they have
no idea. So when you go, when you go into a job interview and say, oh, I was the superintendent or I was the sergeant major of, or I was the chief of, they just look at you like you got two heads.
They don’t know what
you’re talking about. And you’re spitting off all of these accolades [00:15:00] and these awards and these medals and all these accomplishments. And they, and they have no clue what you’re talking about. That was really eye opening to me. How divided, not only was they
divided, but just how segmented that, that military world is. That the, the, the life that a veteran has led for, like you
said, most of their adult life.
And then they go into a, a, a, a corporate job, or a, a, you know, a government job, or, or working at a place, and they
have no idea what you used to do. It’s incredible, really. Yeah, on
Scott DeLuzio: you said, I’m not going to say divide, but there is a divide, right. Between the civilian and the military and veteran worlds where, and thank God they don’t have to understand this stuff. Thank God that the war isn’t, you know, walking down main street
Jon Safran: their front door.
Scott DeLuzio: on their, on their front porch.
Right. Thank God that they don’t need to know this stuff, that they don’t need to know the things that go on behind that curtain. And, [00:16:00] and so, you know, for that, you know, hats off, we’re doing, you know, a pretty good job
Jon Safran: must be doing something right. Yeah, exactly.
Scott DeLuzio: keeping, the wolf at bay. Right. But
then at the, on the other hand, they also don’t know. And so I just spent,
You know, however many years, 10, 20 years of my life devoted to this, this organization that nobody knows anything about other than what they learned from in the movies. And, you know, how accurate is that really? And
Jon Safran: That’s a whole other podcast. I’ll say.
Scott DeLuzio: yeah, that’s a whole, that’s a whole nother thing.
Right. But, but they, they, they don’t know. And so now
it’s like, what do I do with this? What do I do with this information? So, so military connected. org is going to help translate that military service, military. Awards and your, your position in the, in the military, what your rank was, if you’re, you know, chief or sergeant major, you know, whatever it [00:17:00] was that, that you, you have going on, it’s going to convert that over into civilian speak, right.
And, and help
make it so that the. Civilian employers are going to understand what it is that you did right and it may seem seem like that’s that’s a not a big Deal to oh, well, just let’s just explain it You’re really gonna explain the entire military structure and rank and in pay grades and different like I mean That’s confusing as hell if they gotta sit there and try to learn All of this stuff from you just to be able to understand what it is that you did.
They’re not going to be interested.
And so next, you know, move on. Right.
Jon Safran: swipe
Scott DeLuzio: Next man, let’s go.
Jon Safran: Mm hmm. Mm hmm.
Scott DeLuzio: So, you know, we, we want to,
we want to make sure that these veterans as they’re coming out, that they are employed
at a level that is appropriate to what they.
Are capable of doing right. And so, you know, if you’re, if you’re getting out and you’re at a [00:18:00] private level, okay, well, we’re going to make sure you’re getting in, you know, maybe, maybe private level a little bit higher to help, you know, get you on your feet.
You’re coming out at general level. Okay. Well, we’re going to try to get you in a position that’s, you know, general level of, you know, appropriate. Right. And so how do we, how do we, we help address that underemployment? Because I know a lot of times people get out and they end up just settling for a job just
because it’s
Jon Safran: Yeah. Yeah. You’re right. You’re right. And that’s, that’s difficult. That’s, that’s, that’s tough. For for some, for some data here. I want, I want to say it’s about 42 percent of, of veterans when they first come out of the service, they leave their first job within the first year. And I
want to say that number jumps to 80 percent after two years. So finding a job, you can find a job, but is that job the right job for you?
And like you said, is it, is it, does it correlate to what [00:19:00] you used to do in the service or, or the level at which you worked at? You know, is it something you even like to do? Finding a job is, is relatively easy, a job. But finding the right job for you, that’s where the challenge lies. And you’re right, that that underemployed that underemployed issue, that, that’s a problem
because you’re so, you’re so, how should I say this, when you get out of the military, you’re just, you’ve been used to providing for yourself, for your family it’s always been reliable, right? It’s
been a reliable paycheck for the last 20 some years and when you know that’s about to start to dry up, You’re, you’re anxious.
You want to get whatever you can. You want to get your hands on whatever job opportunity that pops up, that’s available, that, that, you know, is going to keep the lights on in your house. So that’s what people do. They’ll, they’ll take whatever the first bite that they can get. And a lot of times that job is, is not the right job. So then after a year, you’re right back to square [00:20:00] one. And God forbid, if you just separated and you didn’t retire and you’re not getting a check and you’re not getting a pension and you’re not getting any VA benefits because there’s a lot of veterans in that bucket as well. So it, it
is a challenge.
But again, military connect. org. This is an, an yet another tool for that veteran to, to, to use, to utilize and to make that work for them.
Again, this is a completely free service to the member. I can’t stress that enough. We’re not going to spam you with a bunch of, a bunch of nonsense, a bunch of emails.
If we’re emailing you, it’s a good thing and you want to look it up. So,
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, yeah, right. And so,
before you, you mentioned it’s not just like a job board. It
has all, all this extra benefit to it.
I imagine there is a job board component associated with it as well. Is that, is that correct or
Jon Safran: Yes. Let me let me explain this a little more. So military connected it’s, it’s kind of a two pronged approach, right? Finding. Veterans finding retirees, finding service members coming [00:21:00] out of the military and looking for job opportunities that are fit for them, that are, that are targeted, that are personable, that are purpose built for them specifically. Whether it’s through their, their specialty code or whatever their skills are, it’s merging that, that entity, that person, those people with career opportunities from military ready companies. Not military friendly. And what I mean by that is Companies and corporations, they love to wave the American flag. They love to you know, say, Hey, we support our troops. Yellow ribbons all over the place. Companies love to pander. There’s a difference between being military friendly and military ready. Okay? That military ready corporation is the other half, the other prong of what this what this website does. Along with building and creating and accessing job opportunities for the veterans veterans. We’re also creating [00:22:00] lessons and opportunities for companies to become more military ready. And it kind of goes back to understanding what that military jargon is, right? If you’re a veteran and you know that you were Colonel such and such, or the
chief of this, or the director of that, or the superintendent of this, that military ready company will understand what those levels are and understand what that military culture is, at least to the best of their ability.
And they can recruit better. They can focus their energies and job opportunities better towards those veterans. And in turn,
building that bridge, strengthening that network in where both entities, the veteran and the company are both benefit, both benefiting from that opportunity, Right,
Scott DeLuzio: right.
right. Now, for a company that’s out there that
is like, well,
we’re definitely military friendly. We got the American flags. We got the yellow ribbons. We got the, all the signs and the banners and the, the slogans and, and, you know, we have the higher [00:23:00] military little banner on our website and all those, those things that pander to the the veteran community they’re looking to step up their game and get to that military ready.
Kind of things should they be looking to do to get themselves to that point where they are not just military friendly, but also military ready.
Jon Safran: Excellent question. Best question of the day, let me tell you. So a lot of companies don’t, don’t even realize the potential that they already have. They already possess in the employers of the, in the employees that they have. Many employees who are already veterans have that ability to help their own companies, help their own businesses in order to be military ready. One of the things that we like to, to point out and like to kind of initiate is internal veteran programs. A buddy of mine who I served with for a long, long time when he got out and he retired went straight into a corporate [00:24:00] job, big, big money corporate, you know, suit and tie wearing fancy job, right?
They had zero, like, Veteran programs anything really. So he took it upon himself to say, Hey, you know what? There’s a bunch of other veterans who work here, but we don’t have anything. They have different months for different groups and different weeks that celebrate different you know, entities and organizations.
How come we don’t have a, a, a veteran internal veteran program here at our company? He talked amongst his, his other veteran friends in the company. And they were able to start something and, and create a program to where not only was it more than just, you know, a bunch of veterans getting together for drinks on a Friday or something, but they were able to take it to corporate and they were able to get funding.
They were able
to do, you know, small events to where they were helping out the community and they were able to grow that. And obviously that growing inside internal of the company, it only benefited them.
It benefited the company in, in, [00:25:00] in every aspect. And using those, using that
program, they were able to utilize their own internal veteran network. And then branch it to their external veteran network for recruiting purposes networking and all different kinds of stuff. Right?
So that’s one of, that’s one of many things that we’re able to do to go into a company and, and say, Hey, what veterans do you have on staff? Currently, how can we take advantage of this?
How can we build this network internally
and then spread it to your external network in order to benefit you, the company, the veterans that are already serving there. And eventually bring in more veterans into that business.
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, exactly. And I think one of the points that you hit on was that you’re, you’re talking about a buddy of yours that you served with for a number of years.
And I think the military is
kind of great because I mean, it, it sucks in a way that you’re moving all the time and you’re, you’re going to different locations and you’re, you’re serving with [00:26:00] different people and almost like
first day of school all over again, you got to go, go in and be the new kid.
But, but you’re going in and you’re making. Making new connections. You’re meeting people with different skills and abilities and talents and, and all these things. And you, at the time it’s like, okay, well, great. This is how this is going to help me in this current role. But as you get out like you were saying, the people who are working for certain companies, they start to.
learn, okay, well, we have these needs of, of X, Y, and Z. And hey, I served with this guy a few years ago, and this guy would be a perfect candidate. He’s, by the way, he’s just getting out of the military right now. I think we should go and try to recruit this guy because he would be perfect for this, this particular opportunity.
And
So you get to leverage that network. I think that’s a huge benefit of being in the military that
I don’t think people really talk too much about is the network that you end up with. I mean, even if you’ve only served like a [00:27:00] real short amount of time and you served in just one company that had 150 people, you, you serve 150 people and there’s, there’s that many people now that are in your network that weren’t in your network prior, and you now have.
These people that you can reach out to and connect with and, and there might be some of those people that might be able to you know, help out in your civilian
career as well.
It’s not like, hey, you take the uniform off and all of a sudden, boom, communication shut off. You can’t talk to these people anymore.
You, you have, still have access to that network and I think it’s important to Recognize that it is a network of people and I think like any organization, you’re gonna have good and bad and, and that’s kind of your job to filter out, right? Who are those people that are going to be good and we want to keep in touch with for the, the future.
But
then, then you move to that next duty station and you have a whole group of other people that you’re now connected with and then the next one and the next one and, and [00:28:00] you end up with this enormous network of people
that you’re able to tap into. Download down the road. If you keep in touch with those people, if you make those sorts of sorts of connections, you
were talking about LinkedIn earlier. I mean, that’s, that’s too easy right there. Just getting in contact with them on, on a site like that. And, and
five years from now, 10 years from now, you can send them a message on this platform and be like, Hey just, you know, remember me, we served in X, Y, Z company or whatever. And, there’s an opportunity.
I think you might be perfect for
Jon Safran: Absolutely.
Scott DeLuzio: you might want to consider it, you know,
Jon Safran: something I like to say your, your network is, is the strongest tool that you have. Yeah, absolutely. Whether in the military or, or really any
aspect in life your network and the people that you know, and the people you hang out with, is, is the strongest tool that you have. The, the second strongest tool is military connected.org. Really?
Scott DeLuzio: that’s a nice little plug there.
No, but, but, but seriously, I think
that is a [00:29:00]
very strong tool that
not only
is going to help you translate your military service into civilian speak civilian lingo, it’s going to. Now say, okay, here are the companies that are ready for someone like you. They’re, they’re looking for this type of talent, this type of
You know, background and skills and whatnot.
And we’re going to take your service. We’re going to put it through this black box and filter it out and make it nice and pretty coming out the other side. And then we’re going to,
we’re going to get you in touch with these people who.
Are ready for exactly you, your service, what you have to offer to these companies.
Jon Safran: 100%. Okay.
Scott DeLuzio: and I think, honestly, I think that’s gonna, that, that type of transition, that type of mentality will bring that 80 percent that you were talking about, 80 percent of people getting out,
Two [00:30:00] years after they get out there, they’re already. Out of that first job within, within two years, think about like, if you spent any length of time in the military, right?
If you spent four years, six years, 10 years, 20 years in the military, you’re in one organization that entire time. And then. In two years, you’re already leaving there. Obviously the military was good for you. If, if you were able to stick in for, you know, 20 years, right. And you were able, you were able to make a commitment to a company for that, that period of time, if it’s the right fit for you, you go off to some other company and it’s not the right fit for you.
And within two years, you’re already gone. That, that to me just screams that, Hey, we didn’t make a good connection. There there’s not. That’s not the right company for that person. But now if we can get that person into the right company and with the right people, understanding what it is that that person did, that 80 percent is going to drop [00:31:00] to way lower, obviously you’re going to get some people who didn’t say, Hey, there’s another career opportunity.
We’re going to leave. And so, okay, fine. That’s not a big deal. That’s that, that I think is a normal, natural thing that ends up happening. But if you’re leaving, because it’s just not the right. Company for you, not the right culture, not people don’t understand you, they’re, they’re, they’re just not fit.
You’re just not fitting in. Then
that’s a problem. And so I think that’s, that’s one of those things that military connected. org is trying to solve.
Jon Safran: you’re you’re absolutely right. You know, you, you talk about you know, recruiting but retention is just as important,
right? So you’re not losing those, those highly skilled veteran individuals after one year or after two years understanding that
culture and the understanding the veterans needs. Is all part of it, right? In order to keep that member inside your business and keep them employed. A lot of people forget about that. That retention process. Once you get them in the door, that’s [00:32:00] great, that’s fantastic, but what do you do when they are in the door? When they’re in
the seat, how do you keep them satiated?
How do you keep them satisfied? And how do you keep them performing at a high level? That kind of goes back to that being military ready instead of just being military friendly.
Scott DeLuzio: Exactly. And I think that’s, that’s a huge thing.
And I think that’s something that
for the veterans, that’s something you should be looking for
when you’re, you’re going to a job interview.
Because that interview. For the listeners who maybe haven’t gone on an actual job interview because they spent their entire adult life In the military service and they actually haven’t gone on any any sorts of interviews
Jon Safran: hmm.
Scott DeLuzio: that, but that interview is as much for you interviewing the company as it is for the company interviewing you and And that
Jon Safran: Say it louder. I’ll tell you what, man. Say it louder.
Scott DeLuzio: that’s something that people miss, I think is, is that they, they’re going in on a bundle of nerves because they’re like, Oh my God, are they going to like me?
Or that, you know, are they going to hire me? Am I [00:33:00] qualified?
Am I this? Am I that?
Well, what about you looking at them and saying, is this the right fit for me? And asking those questions about. The company like, you know, Hey, what, what’s the company culture like, you know, is this, is this the right company for me?
Because otherwise you’re just going into it looking for, you’re just looking for the paycheck at that point. You’re just like, I just need something get, get me in the door.
Jon Safran: Mm.
Scott DeLuzio: So, so yeah, look at it from that lens as well through that lens as well, where you’re looking at it as, is this company a good fit for me?
Jon Safran: 100%. 100%.
No. Of
Scott DeLuzio: for, for the, the veterans or, or people who are about to transition out, who might be listening to this episode right now
how do they take advantage of the services that military connected. org has to offer and what you guys do you know, what’s the first step for them
Jon Safran: course. Of course. So, hey, look, we’ve been saying it all, the whole podcast. MilitaryConnected. [00:34:00] org. One word. That’s the website. It is free to sign up. We are not charging you any fees to do this. You go there. You sign up. Put your information in. You can upload your resume. Basically whatever the website is asking. Go through there, and once that’s done, you’re able to access whatever jobs are available. And those will directly translate to what you have already been doing. Again, through your specialty code, but it’s not just limited to those jobs. You can explore all the jobs that are available. And the good news is that we are continuously adding more and more jobs. I don’t know if you listen, if your listeners are familiar with a company called First Advantage. They are huge in the like background investigation kind of world. We’ve recently teamed up with them and through them, we are able to access all of their clientele that does all of that. They do all their background checking with, right? So we’ve recently added [00:35:00] a lot more jobs, a lot more career opportunities for our veterans. Again, free
to the veteran. I can’t stress that enough. This is not something that you gotta pay for. We’re not going to spam you with a bunch of nonsense. We’re not going to email you a bunch of junk. If we are emailing you, it is a good thing.
That means, hey, we have an opportunity for you. Specifically, for you. Again If you can’t tell, I’m
very passionate about this. Because, look man, I just retired in May. I’m new to this retirement game, right? So I, I, I still sting a little bit from that transitionary period.
So you can see how passionate I am about this. But again, MilitaryConnected. org. Go to the website, sign up, check it out, browse around, see how you can use this tool to benefit you.
Scott DeLuzio: Yeah, absolutely. And the link for that will be in the show notes for the listeners. So you can check that out, but
One question that came up as you were just talking about there when you go to the site,
you
sign up, you submit your [00:36:00] information, you mention upload a resume, what if you don’t have a resume?
Not even sure how to, how to do a resume? I know TAPS is supposed to help you with that, but it
Jon Safran: So, so the resume
portion is not required.
Obviously the more information you have, the more data that you have the, the more specialized and, and,
Focus those opportunities will be for you.
But listen, if you just come to the website, sign up take a, take a, take a walk around the website and see what’s available. You’ll be good to go.
Scott DeLuzio: And, and for folks who
are in that that category of,
Hey, it’s, I’ve been at this job for two years. I hate it. I’m pulling my hair out. This, this sucks. I’m looking for that next opportunity.
Is that still something that military connected. org can help with?
Jon Safran: 100 percent Absolutely.
Even if you’re already employed or underemployed this is still a tool that can benefit you. And again, the whole focus is that we are providing more targeted, focused career
opportunities for our highly skilled veterans. [00:37:00] And if you are already employed or underemployed, like I said, this is still a phenomenal tool that you’re able to take advantage of.
Scott DeLuzio: Excellent. Well,
again, the link will be in the show notes for the listeners. That there’s a lot of great
information,
That, that.
Jon, you’ve, you’ve been able to share with us today.
It’s been really eyeopening, you know, to see the, the different struggles that people have and that divide between the civilian and, and military world, the veteran world,
where there’s just.
Two different levels of understanding. There’s, there’s the Hollywood interpretation and there’s reality. And, and that’s, that’s kind of like what, where we end up finding ourselves is in that stuck in that middle
zone, trying to basically communicate to each other, but it’s like, we were speaking different languages and that’s not always an easy thing to do.
But
yeah, I guess, you know, but before we wrap up I want to thank you for coming on the show and allowing us to kind of [00:38:00] dive into military connect. org. Some of the transition issues that people are having as far as their employment situation and. Job interviews and all these, these different types of things.
I, I think it’s been really eye-opening to see some of those, those different issues. So I, I wanna thank you for taking the time to come on and, and sharing some of that with us.
Jon Safran: I, I should be the one thanking you really appreciate your time. Thank you to your drive on listeners. Please again, check the website out utilize that tool, right? Again, the, the best weapon you have in your arsenal is your network reach out. To the people you used to serve with, reach out to, to your old first sergeants, reach out to your old commanders, reach out to your, to your, to your old supervisors and, and take advantage of
those, of those relationships that you have already built. The second best tool in your arsenal is military connected. org. Utilize it check it out and see how it can work for you.
Scott DeLuzio: And, and like you said, it’s free. You’re really, you’re not losing anything by going
Jon Safran: That’s the best part. It’s free
Scott DeLuzio: you know, so, [00:39:00] so go and use that resource and, and check it out, you know, and I, I think that’s,
that’s where that’s where you’re gonna really find the ben, the benefits of your service
translating in into that civilian.
World career opportunities. So, thanks again, Jon, for, for coming on and thanks for everything that you guys do
Jon Safran: Thank you very, very much. All right, really appreciate it. Thanks again